The We Shared Milk @ Kung Fu Necktie.

Text and images by Matthew Albasi.

The We Shared Milk (hereafter referred to as TWSM to save this lowly writer precious keystrokes) played Kung Fu Necktie last Thursday to promote their new album, History of Voyager & Legend Tripping. It was the second day of their month-long tour with NYC locals The Dig that will take them all the way to California and back.

KFN was, sadly, rather empty the night of the show. However, the scant turnout did not affect the performance of any of the bands. For TWSM, this was particularly evident. They had all the vigor one might expect from a band playing to a room full of people. Their guitar riffing was done to perfection; their drummer was flawless. The show they put on was spectacular.

But you all missed it.

At this point in the review I should start telling you about all the songs they played and how excited I was to hear them play my favorite. The fact of the matter is I didn’t have a favorite and, chances are neither do you. So we’ll we streamline this section of the review with a quick sentence. Almost every song TWSM played made me and the handful of other people in the room bob our heads and clap enthusiastically. You should have been there. You would have loved it.

I think there is a grander point in all of this that should not be overlooked. Three bands played Thursday night: Krass Brothers, The We Shared Milk and The Dig. All of these bands were exceptional. One might even say spectacular. But prior to this show I had almost no knowledge of any of them.

You know what I did? I went out anyway. And by doing this I found three awesome bands that I will forever jump at the opportunity to see.

The point I’m trying to make is this: it doesn’t fucking matter if you know the band. Show up anyway. Philadelphia has such a dense concentration of talent that lives and plays here that it is hard to find a show that sucks. There should never be an empty music venue in Philly and it’s your responsibility to fill that space.

Get your friends and go to a show. You’ll thank me for it later.